Born Ruffians, 'Red, Yellow and Blue' (Warp)
Since the early '90s, indie rock has been rapidly assimilating and responding to its own
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Ryan Bingham, 'Mescalito' (Lost Highway)
Here's how it'll go: First, you'll see this young Texas singer/songwriter on the cover of his debut album -- sitting in the middle of a desolate highway, jeans torn, cowboy hat. Then you'll flip on the first track and hear pleasantly road-worn fingerpicking, plaintive harmonica, and a cigarette scorched moan.
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Blanche, 'Little Amber Bottles' (Original Signal)
Blanche is a genetically purebred Detroit band: vinyl-happy Dumpster divers with a penchant for theatricality, an innate sense of decay, and a keen feel for country music's gothic underbelly.
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Patrick Wolf, 'The Magic Position' (Low Altitude)
For Patrick Wolf, time's arrow has always flown backward. As a precocious 11-year-old, he tinkered with instruments and recorded music that demonstrated an uncanny attention to soundcraft but found him weary and numb, already disaffected with virtually everything except the intricacies of noise.



